World Class OEE

OEE is essentially the ratio of Fully Productive Time to Planned Production Time (refer to the OEE Factors section for graphic representation). In practice, however, OEE is calculated as the product of its three contributing factors:

OEE = Availability x Performance x Quality

This type of calculation makes OEE a severe test. For example, if all three contributing factors are 90.0%, the OEE would be 72.9%. In practice, the generally accepted World-Class goals for each factor are quite different from each other, as is shown in the table below.

OEE Factor

World Class

Availability

90.0%

Performance

95.0%

Quality

99.9%

Overall OEE

85.0%

Of course, every manufacturing plant is different. For example, if your plant has an active Six Sigma quality program, you may not be satisfied with a first-run quality rate of 99.9%.

Worldwide studies indicate that the average OEE rate in manufacturing plants is 60%. As you can see from the above table, a World Class OEE is considered to be 85% or better. Clearly, there is room for improvement in most manufacturing plants! How about yours?